Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1887-06-22

at the same time, and fun ran pretty high
One night Hays escorted several of the young
ladies to q hop at q neighboring house, and
saw for the first time a steel engraving Of
Longfellow's mournful heroine, "Eyange-
line" with clasped hands and tear bedimmed
eyes gazing out over the dark seas. Hays
was so impressed with the picture that he
could think of nothing else, and as he returned
home he continued humming the words of the
first verse:
Lost Evangeline my sweet Evangeline,
We have lived and loved each other fond and
true,
scene
Since you and were sitting here.
1t was a lovely moonlight night, and the
young ladies kept teasing their escort to sing
for them. As they walked along they came
to a lot of charred embers where slaves had
been roasting corn. On one side of the road
there was a new clean board fence. Hays
picked up charred stick and, going to the
fence, wrote the words and music of this
famous song. With the young ladies he
walked up and down the impromptu music
stand and sang the notes until they all knew
them. The next day he copied the compo-
sition from the fence, altered some of the
lines and polished it up, and shortly after
wards it was published. Brainard, the Cleve-
land publisher, sold 2OO, 900 copies of "Evange-
line before it had been out any length of
time. a**
AS strange as 1t may seem, the composer of
all OF these popular songs has received COM
paratively small return from their sale.
What he received long ago was quickly spent,
and for a long time he has depended on his
newspaper work for a living. AS long ago as
1858 he entered a newspaper office and has
served in all kinds of capacities. He was for
long time the amanuensis of George d.
Prentice, the famous journalist and wit of
Louisville, and he tells number of amusing
incidents at his own expense of his experience
with Mr.. Prentice. One is worth repeating:
81 had been with Mr. Prentice for a long
time without ever receiving a word or COM
pliment about my poetry or songs l finally
came to the conclusion that he did NOT care
much for music, and had probably never
heard any of my songs. l was sitting down
to go through his mail with him one night
and on the table there was a roll Of music
from Peters for me. Mr.. Prentice picked
up the bundle, tore off the wrapper, and TAX
ing out one piece, handed it to me, asking:
Hays, what is thsF That said proudly
lis my last song, Mr.. Prentice A merci-
less glitter came into the old mans eyes, and
he said: 1T is, ehs Well, thank God; you
ought to have quit long ago."
-.
Ayear ago Jack Haverly vainly endeavored
to induce Hays to go on the minstrel stage
He even got so far as to secure the songsters
name to blank contract, but that was all
that ever came of it, 1t was believed that
the celebrated composer in burnt cork, sing
ing his own famous songs, would prove an
immense hit, but, for some reason or other,
the contract Jagged. Hays sings and plays
well. Many of his songs have been in darby
dialect, and have been sung by all of the
negro MINISTRIES for the past quarter of a CEN
fury. In looking about Louisville for photo
graph of the song maker l noticed that his
two last songs, sold Fashioned Roses Are
Sweetest" and "Who Tied That Grape on the
Door" are proving quite as popular as some
Of his earlier productions.
G. II YENovIvr